1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to application of electrical pulses and mechanical vibrations to the skin in a controlled manner, in order to increase the absorption of a substance that is applied at the same time to the skin by way of a syringe.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that an electrical pulse applied to the skin is useful in order to increase the absorption of a substance previously applied to the skin, whereby this technique is known as electroporation. Such a substance to be applied to the skin may be a liquid, a gel, a lotion, or a cream, for example.
It is desired to provide an apparatus and a method to increase the absorption of a substance to be applied to the skin, in order to obtain an increased (e.g., moisturizing) affect of the substance applied to the skin.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and a method for enhancing the absorption of a substance to be applied on the skin.
To accomplish this, the present invention uses a sequence of electrical pulses (between 20 and 200V peak to peak, preferably, and between 50 and 15,000 Hz preferably) provided to electrodes that are placed in contact with the skin. There is also provided a corresponding surface vibration to the skin, by application of a mechanical vibration to the skin. The mechanical vibration is preferably of the same frequency and phase as the electrical pulses applied to the skin. The mechanical vibration is provided by way of a vibrating plate that also contains the electrodes (which provide the electrical stimulus to the skin at the same time the mechanical vibration is provided to the skin). In an alternative configuration, only electrical pulses are provided to the skin, whereby mechanical vibrations are not utilized.
The substance to be absorbed by the skin is applied to the skin by way of a syringe, which outputs the substance by way of a tube that is connected to an output of the syringe at one end of the tube and where the other end of the tube is disposed adjacent to a groove (or trough) surrounding a central electrode of an array of electrodes. Such a substance that is provided to the skin may be a cream, liquid or gel (for example, collagen, or cocoa butter, or suntan oil, or other types of skin enhancement lotions), or a drug to be administered into the skin.
The method according to an embodiment of the invention includes:
1) An apparatus which includes the following elements to perform the following treatment:
a) a probe having an array of electrodes on a head portion of the probe, with a central electrode disposed at a central location on the head portion and with a plurality of circumferential electrodes disposed around the central electrode.
b) a pulse generator connected to the array of electrodes.
c) a vibrator which vibrates the head portion of the probe at a same time the electrical pulses are provided to the array of electrodes on the head portion.
d) a syringe that provides a substance to the skin under control of a motor that outputs the substance from the syringe in a controlled manner, whereby the substance is provided to a groove or trough that surrounds the central electrode.
During operation, as electrical pulses are provided to the skin by way of the electrodes on the head of the probe, and, at the same time, mechanical vibrations are provided to the skin by way of the vibrating head portion, the substance disposed within the trough surrounding the central electrode is absorbed within the skin due to the skin pores opening up as a result of the electrical pulses and mechanical vibrations being applied to the skin. Alternatively, only electrical pulses are provided to the skin, which does not provide as good a skin absorption effect as using both electrical pulses and mechanical vibrations.